Thursday, June 6, 2013

Into the future

My e-book memoir, The Colour of Food, published by Awa Press, is being launched this Sunday by Lois Daish, but it's already available online (see below). It feels very odd to be putting out a new book which Harvey will never read, even though a goodly portion of it is about living with him. If he had lived, of course, it would be a very different book.
As it happens, I am reading Julian Barnes' Levels of Life, which is about the sudden death of his wife (they too had been together for 30 years). She was "the heart of my life and the life of my heart". His account of his experience after she died rings so true for me.
It's available in print, but I'm reading it on my iPad. Like many readers now, I move between print and e-books, though I still tend to depend on conventional print reviews (often read online), as well as friends' recommendations, to decide what to look for. I think it will be that way for a long time.
So now I hope lots of people will discover my book, and when they do, tell other people about it - especially, of course, online. Reviewing it for Amazon, etc is a huge help too (I am brazenly assuming you will like it). Here's how to get it:

For Kindle, you can find it on Amazon here. Or else go to Amazon and put this in the search box:

B00D0UTIT6

For
Kobo, you can find it here. Or else go to Unity Books Online, find their ebook section and search for Anne Else.

And here's how it begins:

To start
withI’m three, and I’m sitting in the sun on the
grass beside the narrow strip of garden in our long skinny backyard. Before Mum
sees me I reach out for a handful of rich dark soil and fill my mouth with its
crunchy, crumbly, satisfying warmth.Now I’m four,
watching Mum as she cuts a neat square plug out of an apple. She hides sugar in
the hole for me to find and puts back the plug, the cut-lines invisible in the
green skin.

3 comments:

Congratulations Anne, it sounds great. I remember after my mother died, I published my first book with Tandem Press. When I received the proof copy I was so excited I wanted to run to the phone and tell her. Then I remembered she was no longer here, and I sat down and cried. I can imagine how hard it must feel not having Harvey here to share this with you.

I finished your delightful book quite a while ago, but I find that I have been going back to read parts of it over again; I'm discovering the advantages of having a Kindle on my ipad - it's easy to mark pieces that you like or want to go back to, and no turning down the corners of the pages!

You and I must be about the same age. I found that the early chapters made me quite nostalgic, and your comments on your mother's food certainly made me nod in agreement, although she was more of a "roast on Sunday, cold meat on Monday, Shepherd's pie on Tuesday" kind of cook.

I enjoyed greatly learning about your life, before and with Harvey, whose blog I followed diligently for the last few years of his life.I do envy you your interest in and love of cooking, which I have never been greatly attracted to - although I do love to eat! All the mothering years of having to put a meal on the table every night took away the appeal, I think. I love reading about food, though, and trying new and intriguing dishes - top of my list to try is your (Claudia Roden's) eggplant recipe. Most of the time these days my husband and I cook separately, as he is very much a meat, spuds and gravy person, whereas I eat very little meat and would far rather have a salad than a steak. Eggplants are something I love, but he won't eat them. He does grow them for me, though!

Thank you so much for sharing your life in this gentle, honest book; I am so glad I was able to read it.

School holidays - and of course I have come down with a heavy cold, and have spent the first few days sleeping. And reading!

I'm going to leave your book on my sidebar for a while, if you don't mind.

This is such a thoughtful response, Alexia, thank you. I hope the cold is improving! And yes, please do leave the book in your sidebar - better still. put some of your response under it so people can see how much you liked it - that would be wonderful.

The Colour of Food: a memoir of life, love & dinner

INTERVIEW

Also in ebook

This Piece of Earth: a year in my New Zealand garden

Harvey's memoir, now available as an Awa Press e-book - click on the cover to see how to buy it.

MY FOOD BLOG

Click on the lemons to go to Something Else To Eat

FACEBOOK

At my book launch - Lois Daish, me, Mary Varnham of Awa Press. Click on the photo to go to the book's Facebook page.

Harvey's last anthology, These I Have Loved: My favourite New Zealand poems, published by Steele Roberts, was launched on 10/10/2010. To see what Beattie's Book Blog has to say about it, click on the cover.

"I read for pleasure and that is the moment I learn the most." — Margaret Atwood